Q: Remove MacProtector

Nana Judy P wrote:

 

I did go to  Safari and uncheck the 'open downloads'  Is that going to cause me problems now with opening attachements from emails?

No, but it will cause you to have to do some extra work in that anything you download with Safari will sit quietly in your download folder until you do something with it.  That may include expanding the file and mounting .dmg image files which Safari used to do for you.  It has probably opened some additional files that it felt were safe.

As far as your email attachments, you will still do that the same way as you always have, either by double-clicking the attachment or saving it to your hard drive.

The advise here has been about 50-50 on turning it off.  Some feel it will protect you against doing something foolish, but others are convinced that it will just make you feel safer than you really are.  But we all agree that the best answer is an educated user and that's what where we have been putting in most of our effort.

Hi WWhite2010

thanks for the tips, this was very useful for me. I stopped the program as per your guidelines then went back into applications and deleted the whole file (rather than using spotlight as I couldn't remove the files that way, just identify that they were still there).

Thanks once again for your instructions

I did just as you said .I found the Macprotecter in my utilities and stopped it.I didn't see any files at the top right but I went into my applications and deleted the icon there.Is this enough?Hope so,,,Anyway thanks a million man.Glad for people like you.

Using Spotlight to locate a file is a bit tricky, but you accomplished the same thing by trashing the file, which you refer to as an icon, from your Applications folder. 

Now open your Download folder and get rid of the source of the problem by trashing the files named "anti-malware.zip" and "MacProtector.mpkg". 

While your there you might want to clean your Downloads folder up by moving any files you want to keep somewhere else and trashing everything else.  That way you will know what's being downloaded to your computer and hopefully why in the future.

Wow ,you people are fast and really helpful.I am just learning about computers and this Mac was my first ever computer.I went to downloads and cleaned out all the Macprotector stuff and the other anti malware too.I am sure about some of the downloads that are still there but others are showing little pages and I am not sure if they are some kind of program or something I need.I opened them to see if they would let me know what is in them but the information there doesn't help me .Listen, thanks again for your support man/woman.I am really grateful for it.Some of this language is still foreign to me ,but I'm catching on pretty good.Your help must put alot of new users at ease ,I know I  felt that way when you helped.Oh yeah something else,When I went in to stop the MacProector a bunch of Gay **** jumped on the screen for a couple seconds.I have no idea where that came from and wondered if it could have been hooked to the phony Protector .Anyway it's gone with the rest of it I hope.Have a good one.You sure helped alot.

Thanks madmacs0, that's a good tip. I haven't had my MacBook for very long and I thought that apples software was pretty robust when it came to blocking malware, so it's awful to know how to check these things myself.

In response to billfromfrederiction, I also had the same unwelcome Screen pop up on my computer after macprotector added itself to my downloads since I've removed the malware I've had no problems at all.

MadMacs

Using Spotlight to find files is the quickest and easiest way. When you find a file in Spotlight clicking on it will take you to where the file is located. Just FYI.

Joseph

Joseph

Yes, I'm aware of that, but since he had already found it I didn't elaborate.

Also turn off "Open "Safe" files after downloading " in Safari Preferences. The fake Web page is just that fake and it cannot scan your disk.

Also

Hi, here is how to remove it by yourself...

http://goo.gl/J7R6A

Script that I create which, will help you remove it ..... (Let me know using the contact at that site.)

http://goo.gl/rGV62

What is does.

Depending on the version it just creates a bunch of random fake notification and claims your infected. If you keep getting it then most likely you have Allow popups and "Open Safe files" in safari on. The only damage is if you give the criminals that created it your Credit Card.

It is changing so it depend on the version but these two links should help.

great help thanks bill fromnantwich

-have user quit all apps

-have user force quit safari

-have user open activity monitor and force quit mac defender/Security/Protector

-quit activity monitor

-have user delete mac defender/Security/Protector from downloads & applications folder

-have user do a Spotlight search for 'MacDefender/Security/Protector'/'Mac Defender/Security/Protector' and move any Mac defender/Security/Protector files to the trash

-have user go to system prefs>accounts>login items> and delete mac defender/Security/Protector from start up list

-have user restart

-have user empty trash

Hi, I also created a Script that does all this for you which you can download at the following address.

http://goo.gl/rGV62

When it runs you just need to tell it where MacDefender/Protector is. Select it and it will take care of the rest.

It works with the following App

OSX/MacDefender. A ---> MacDefender

OSX/MacDefender. D ---> MacProtector

OSX/MacDefender.F ---> MacProtector

Thank you, worked perfectly.